No Cause To Mourn Ironside’s Exit

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31880, 7 January 1969, Page 8

No Cause To Mourn Ironside’s Exit

(By

Garry Arthur)

It was a relief to see the word “final” beside the Ironside fisting on Saturday night’s programme. Ironside contained little to raise it above the mediocrity of its actors.

Raymond Burr has never shown the ability to portray any character other than Raymond Burr himself. His range of expression is limited to the challenging stare and the dogmatic pronouncement, and his face is about as mobile as that on the Post Office clock. As Ironside he was just Perry Mason on wheels. He

even communicated his stolid, lack-lustre style to the three actors appearing as his subordinates. As a group they should have been able to react with one another, but their characterisation rarely rose above mere labelling. Invariably, attempts at humour and even kidding among themselves fell painfully flat, thanks mostly to Raymond Burr's wooden presentation. Somehow everyone’s lines seemed unnatural. And yet the story ideas

Television

were frequently good and full of promise. Saturday's episide, set in the Haight-Ash-bury district of hippies and flower children, was given a head start with its topical setting and potentialy powerful sub-plots. But the scenes were too patently counterfeit and the tension under-played. The social message attempted through the depiction of the 15-year-old runaway girl was weakened by its heavy-handed treatment. Her self-analysis and reformation were just too pat to be true.

Like Perry Mason, Ironside always struggled through to a neat, happy and victorious ending. That produces excellent police statistics, but a few failures or setbacks would have produced a more credible character. Big Business

“Champion House" was a newcomer on Sunday evening, but it has a familiar ring. It is clear by now that viewer ratings dictate forward production policy on both sides of the Atlantic, and this new series owes its construction to the success of “The Planemakers.” “The Power Game” and “Mogul.” They have shown that machinations of big,business are good television material.

and “Champion House” looks like the mixture as before. This time the corporate struggles are being fought within the context of the wool,- spinning industry, centred at Bradford. As the destination of much of New Zealand’s wool clip, the setting will be of more than usual interest here, and the series should enjoy a wide audience.

But judging by the first episode, it is going to take a While to sort out the charactors. The Champion family hierarchy is tightly interwoven, and it may be a few weeks before we can distinguish the warp from the woof—except of course for the head of the house, who is clearly going to be this series’ version of Mogul’s Stead and the Pow Game’s Wilder. New Year's Eve

Thanks to circumstances which got out of control, I missed the New Year’s Eve frolic “What a Way to Go”. But according to those who did watch it, I didn’t miss much. Everyone gave it the thumbs-down, and some were even a little angry at the standard Of the N.Z.B.C.’s big effort for seeing out the old year.

Judging by their reaction, it sounds as if the corporation could well make a New Year resolution to leave New Year’s Eve to the local channels. They have done it well in ithe past. At Channel 3 it has been taken as an opportunity for announcers, reporters and entertainers to let their hair down and hold a partyspoofing each other, poking fun at local pomposity, and generally being seen to have a good time. This time Big Brother Head Office decided to gatecrash the party and “nationalise" it into what sounded —at second - hand like a dismal failure.